Kilroy said she was trailing Pryce by 3,600 votes when she addressed the media on Wednesday afternoon.

Pryce, the fourth-ranking Republican leader in the House, predicted she would hold her lead after all 15th District ballots were counted.

“All you political junkies who want to stay up late, stay tuned, because this is going to be a victory in the ‘R’ column,” Pryce said late Tuesday night.

Kilroy said she was waiting for hand-delivered and mailed in absentee ballots, along with a large number of provisional ballots, to be counted.

“Every voter who went to the polls deserves to have their voter counted. We are only 3,600 votes behind and there are thousands of votes left uncounted and we think that this race is still on. This is not decided yet,” Kilroy said. “(Pryce) definitely jumped the gun.”

“I think that there are 16,000. Part of those are provisional, some are absentee ballots. I’m not the expert on this. I’ll let the board of elections do their jobs, but we surged at the end and that was through our absentee efforts,” Pryce said.

Minutes after Kilroy’s press conference, Pryce’s campaign released a letter that announced she would not pursue reelection for the U.S. House of Representatives House Republican Conference.

“As all of you know, I faced a very tough reelection fight for my congressional seat this cycle,” Pryce wrote in the letter. “While there are still thousands of provisional ballots left to be counted, all signs indicate that we have won the race and I am confident I will eventually be declared the winner. While I know we can keep this seat Republican in the future, it will take time and effort. I believe it is in the best interest of the party and the Conference that I keep my focus on my district for the next two years and ensure this seat remains safely in Republican hands.”